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Monday, November 26, 2012

Possession (November 29th and December 1st at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[POSSESSION
screens Thursday November 29th at 8:45 pm and Saturday December 1st
at 9:20 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Bob
Ignizio

A marriage falls apart in spectacular
and bloody fashion in Andrzej Żuławski's off the rails 1981 film
POSSESSION. Mark (Sam Neil)
has been deeply involved in his job as a spy of some sort (the
specifics are kept vague), barely spending any time with his wife
Anna (Isabelle Adjani) and son Bob (Michael Hogben). When Mark
finally decides to leave work behind to focus on family, it's too
late – Anna wants a divorce.

Although Anna
claims there isn't anyone else, Mark doesn't believe her.
Nonetheless, he agrees to move out and give Anna custody of Bob.
Before long, however, both Mark and Anna begin spiraling into
madness. Mark becomes obsessive about saving the marriage, even as
all doubt regarding Anna's infidelity is removed. But is Heinrich
(Heinz Bennett) Anna's only lover, or is there someone (or something)
else? And why does Bob's teacher Helen look exactly like Anna, only
with different eye and hair color?

POSSESSION
often gets lumped in with the horror genre, which is about as fair as
any attempt to categorize this film could be. After all, it includes
scenes of self mutilation with an electric carving knife, a handful
of brutal murders, and sex scenes involving a slime-dripping
tentacled monster. And yet those looking for some kind of lurid gore
fest will likely find POSSESSION
slow going. It's a good 45 minutes before the film even starts
veering into horror territory, and when it does it's clear that the
horror elements in the story are meant to be seen primarily as
symbols for the toxicity of Mark and Anna's relationship as it
damages not just them, but their woefully neglected child, their
friends, and anyone else who happens to get near them.

Neil
and Adjani both turn in spectacular scenery-chewing performances,
their on-screen relationship recalling Burton and Taylor in WHO'S
AFRIAD OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? Only
this time there's a real child involved who has to suffer for their
dysfunction. Even as POSSESSION
uses this as a jumping off point for some truly bizarre plot
developments, it always feels like an emotionally accurate depiction
of a relationship trying to survive well past its time. Sure, these
characters behave irrationally, but so does anyone going through a
bad breakup, or even a particularly bad patch in a relationship.
Hopefully in real life they make it through one way or the other
without the murder and mutants. 3 out of 4 stars.